Chamber of Secrets: A Different Conclusion
by Anonymius
Summary: Sequel to 'Philosopher's Stone: A Different Beginning'. Harry and his friends set out to stop the heir of Slytherin from harming muggleborns. But in an unknown chamber he's going to discover that there's a threat worse than Slytherin's monster!
1. The Diary

**Well here it is! After a month long gap comes the sequel to 'Philosopher's Stone: A Different Beginning', a take on 'Chamber of Secrets' set in the same AU. Enjoy!**

**P.S. I do not own Harry Potter or anything related.**

* * *

"No, Sammie!" Harry moaned.

The small, greenish looking house-elf had made the trifle levitate above the head of the wife of the man that Uncle Vernon was trying to make a deal with.

"Please no!" He pleaded, "They'll kill me!"

Sammie looked straight into Harry's face.

"Harry Potter must promise that he will not return to Hogwarts."

Harry was torn. He did not want to suffer the consequences for Uncle Vernon's deal being ruined; yet at the same time he could not bear to stay here for a whole year.

"I-can't," He said through gritted teeth.

Sammie gave him a sombre look.

"Then you leave me no choice."

He waved his hand. The moment the pudding fell on the woman's head with a PLOP, Harry woke up. He had relived the time when a house-elf had come to Privet Drive, and had warned him that bad things were coming to Hogwarts, and that he should stay away. When he refused, Sammie used his magic to make the Ministry believe that Harry had been performing magic outside of school. When the Dursleys learnt of this, they locked him up in his room. Fortunately he was rescued, though, by his best friend Ron and his brothers twins Fred and George. After telling them what had happened, Fred and George told him that a House-Elf can't use magic without permission from their masters, and suggested that it was likely a prank. Harry, however, had no idea who could have possibly sent Sammie. He didn't have any major enemies at school. Well, apart from among the Slytherins.

Hey wait, that's not the dormitory ceiling! Harry thought.

He looked around. He seemed to be in some sort of underground chamber. What was he doing here?

It eventually came back to him. He and Ron were attempting to go down to the Chamber of Secrets to save Ron's sister Ginny from the heir of Slytherin. They eventually figured out that the entrance was in the girls' Bathroom. Harry noticed that one of the taps was shaped into a snake. Ron suggested saying something in Parseltongue to it. Parseltongue was the name given to the language of snakes, something that Harry had discovered he alone could understand at the beginning of the year, when the duelling club was established. Harry did as Ron suggested, saying, "Open." They heard a click. The sink moved slightly into the wall, then opened like a door. It revealed a large, dark, dank tunnel, leading below.

"Thank you, Harry," A female voice said along with the opening of one of the toilet doors; "I couldn't have opened it without you."

Harry and Ron spun around. There standing in front of them was Ginny.

Yet it didn't look like Ginny. At least her expression was unlike any face Harry had ever seen her make. Her eyes and wide smile looked wild and malicious. She whipped out her wand and cried, "Fulgarsempra!"

The last thing Harry remembered was everything being engulfed in electricity. Why had Ginny attacked them? Wasn't she supposed to be held hostage by the Heir in the chamber? And what did she mean by "I couldn't have opened it without you"?

Harry looked around at his surroundings. He realised that the cavern they were in contained what looked like a black stone step pyramid, and that he was at the bottom. He turned his head aside to see Ron sprawled at the other end of the chamber.

"Ron!" Harry shouted, his voice hoarse.

He crawled towards his friend. He hoped that he wasn't dead.

"Ron, wake up!"

He shook him, with no response. Harry noticed that a few steps up was Ginny, also lying unconscious. Harry called to her, and climbed up the steps. She looked worse than Ron, looking pale. Besides her was something Harry had never expected to see in this situation.

It was the diary.

* * *

A few months back, Harry and Ron were passing by the girls' bathroom when they heard Myrtle wailing. Going in, she told them that someone threw something at her, and that it was now in one of the toilets. Harry fished it out. It looked like an old diary. To his amazement, it was completely dry and unspoiled, even with Harry's wet hands. On the front was the name "A.B. Eago." To his amazement, Ron recognised the name, having cleaned his trophy for 'special services to the school'. Judging from the date, the diary was about fifty years old. When they showed the diary to Hermione, she gasped after hearing the name.

"What is it?" Harry asked, "Have you seen the name before?"

"Well, not the exact name, no, but Eago yes! I'm surprised neither of you have heard of the name before, especially you Ron!"

This just baffled both of them.

"Why? Am I-er, supposed to know who Eago is?" He said uncertainly, as if this was a very obvious fact. Hermione just looked furious at both of them.

"Honestly," She shook her head, "Do either of you pay attention in History of Magic? Professor Binns has talked loads about him!"

"I'm surprised that anyone can pay attention in Binns' classes," Ron told her, "All right then. Who's Eago supposed to be?"

"Cain Eago was a terrible dark wizard who lived over a hundred years ago. From what Binns told us he was as bad as Nargoa."

"So, he was like a proto-Nargoa then?" Harry asked her, "Intent on taking over the world, making all wizardkind his soldiers and muggles his slaves?"

"No, actually he was the exact opposite."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he was fighting for rights of different groups-muggleborns, half-bloods, muggles, squibs, werewolves, giants, centaurs, goblins, house-elves- and was willing to use the dark arts and overthrow the Ministry in order to achieve his goals."

"What do you mean by rights?" Harry asked.

"You know! Equal standing between rights of wizards and witches no matter what their blood purity is, protection and better treatment of muggles and squibs, help and protection given to werewolves, freedom for house-elves, giving non-humans the right to carry wands, the return of centaurs and giants their lands-"

Ron laughed.

"Sounds like he was an outright nutter! I mean okay, equal rights for muggleborns and half-bloods as well as muggles and squibs is right, but freedom for house-elves, protection for werewolves and letting the giants back in the country and letting goblins use wands? It's mad! Sounds like to me that he was as mad as Dumbledore! What, was he also going to let vampires run wild in the country as well?"

"Ron!" Hermione snapped, "Number one, it's not werewolves' fault that they are what they're like, are they? I mean they're only dangerous once in a month! Number two, I don't believe that giants are all bad, and it was certainly wrong for them to be driven away from their homeland. Number three, the slavery of any race is just wrong, and number four, it's unfair that some people have advantages over others just because of their race!"

"Yeah well number one, Hermione, goblins are already powerful enough without wands! They could overpower us all if they had wands!"

"So what, just because some people are more talented than others, that gives those less talented people the right to hold them back?"

Ron laughed.

"I hardly call goblins people, Hermione. Number two, about the house-elves; it's just the way things are. What will people do without house-elves?"

"You seem to manage," Hermione frowned.

This stumped Ron.

"Well yeah okay, but number three, you haven't been in the wizarding world long enough to understand things like giants!"

Hermione went red hearing this.

"Spoken," She eventually said, "Like a true pureblood fanatic. "Muggleborns don't understand our ways, they haven't been properly brought up to know our ways"!"

Nothing that Hermione had said before seem to hurt Ron more than comparing him, someone from a family that has traditionally supported muggle and muggle-born rights, to a pureblood fanatic.

"Number four," He muttered, "You can never trust a werewolf, can you? Even when they haven't transformed!"

Hermione stared at him.

"All you've just said," She said, "Is nothing but prejudice! It's people like you that Eago was fighting against!"

"Whatever happened to him?" Harry asked, "Eago, I mean?"

"Well, at the end of an eleven-year long wizarding war, Eago was vanquished by a wizard named Lucas Cessi."

"I'm sorry, Lucas who?"

"Lucas who?" Ron had asked simultaneously.

Hermione nodded.

"I know. The wizard who teaches us Defence Against the Dark Arts is part of the same family as the one who defeated the worst wizard before Nargoa."

"Wow!" Ron exclaimed, "Imagine that! Being descended from someone who defeated a dark wizard! It's probably like being descended from you, Harry!"

Harry didn't think he had ever admired Professor Cessi more than he did now. To have a Great-Great Grandfather who slew a dark wizard? Then a horrible thought occurred to Harry.

"Was Lucas Cessi against all those rights Eago was fighting for?" He asked Hermione.

She shook her head.

"No he supported them as well. What he opposed was Eago's means and methods to achieve those rights."

That made Harry feel better. He didn't like the idea of Darren's ancestor being someone who supported the unjust establishment that Hermione had just described.

"So this A.B. Eago is probably a descendant of Cain Eago then?" Ron said.

"It's likely."

"Do you think he shared his Great-Great Grandfather or something's views and his attraction towards the dark arts?"

"Maybe. Although just because he was descended from him doesn't mean he was anything like him."

"We certainly never heard of a terrible Dark Wizard named A.B. Eago," Harry said, "Hey, you don't suppose that Professor Cessi might have been at school the same time as him, do you?"

"Don't know, what makes you think so?" Hermione asked.

"Just a thought," Harry admitted. Nevertheless, generations of Eagos and Cessies must have gone to school around the same time. He tried to picture how they would get along, knowing that one's Great-Great Grandfather killed the other's Great-Great Grandfather.

A later thought occurred to Harry. Judging from the date of the diary, Eago must have been at school fifty years ago. Around the same time as the Heir… The same thought occurred to Hermione. Harry opened the book as if he was unwrapping a Christmas present, hoping to learn anything it might have said the last time the chamber was opened. To his great disappointment, like discovering there was nothing in the wrapping paper, the pages were blank. Harry flicked through all of them. Nothing. He was so sure that they had found another clue about the Monster!

The trio attempted to discover more about the mysterious A.B. Eago. Their search was not in vain. Hermione managed to find him in several old Quidditch photos nailed on the wall in the wing dedicated to all things Quidditch. He was in six of them, ranging from 1937 to 1943. Harry studied the smiling, round-faced boy with black eyes.

"Oh, he was in Slytherin," Hermione gasped, sounding surprised, "That's unexpected!"

"Why?" Ron asked.

"Well Cain Eago was a fervent Slytherin hater. In fact his victims were all virtually Slytherins! I can't imagine how he would have felt if he knew his descendant was sorted in that house."

"What, Eago wasn't a Slytherin?" Ron sounded quite shocked, "Well what house was he?"

"Gryffindor."

"What?"

"Well, that's surprising!" Ron remarked, "I thought all dark wizards came from Slytherin?"

"Not all dark wizards. Just many of them," Hermione told him.

"Yeah, Professor Cessi said himself that not all dark wizards were sorted in Slytherin and not all Slytherins become dark wizards," Harry added.

"Still it's shocking though," Said Ron, "The most terrible dark wizard before Nargoa being a Gryffindor. Still however, it's probably expected, if he wasn't a supporter of pureblood supremacy, that is."

"He played Seeker!" Harry realised.

"What, Cain Eago?"

"No, A.B. Eago. That's where the Seeker stands!"

He seemed to start off as quite small, perhaps no bigger than Harry (Which was perfect for a Seeker since they tend to be small), before shooting slightly at the age of Fourteen, though he was only ever of average height.

"He must have suffered a lot from his peers," Hermione suggested.

"What makes you say that?" Harry asked.

"Well like I said, his Great-Great Grandfather killed many Slytherins. Imagine how all the Slytherins felt having the descendant of an infamous Slytherin killer in their house?"

"Yeah well given that we didn't know who Cain Eago was," Ron pointed out, "What chance did they have? Besides he seemed able to get himself in the Slytherin Quidditch team, they probably wouldn't have let him in if they hated him that much!"

"I suppose," Hermione admitted.

Ever since learning of his heritage, Harry saw Professor Cessi in a very different light. He guessed his beaming didn't go unnoticed. As usual, the trio went to visit Professor Cessi during the weekend.

"Say Harry," He brought up as they drank their tea, "I can't help but noticed that you've been looking at me a bit differently for the past week. Actually, you've been the same, Ron. It's almost as if you've both got this newfound respect for me, and despite the fact that I am a marvellous wizard if you'll excuse me for saying so, there's nothing I've done recently that's been out of the ordinary!"

He grinned.

"So cough up! What is it that I have done to make you all admire me more than you usually do?"

Harry wasn't entirely sure how to answer his question.

"Well," He began, "Hermione told us about your ancestor."

"Which one, I have many."

"Lucas Cessi."

"Ah right! So you probably know about the time he defeated the Dark Lord of the time, Cain Eago. Actually Luc's not my Great-Great Grandfather. Well in law he is."

There was silence.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"I mean he's my Great-Great Grandfather-in-Law."

"Grandfather-in-Law?" Hermione asked, "Wait a minute, that means-?"

"Yep. I'm not actually part of the family by blood. I changed my surname when I married my wife."

There was silence again.

"Well that's a bit odd!" Ron exclaimed, "Why did you do that?"

"I wasn't fond of my surname, so I changed mine to hers. I assure you that I wasn't trying to grope some of the family's fame, so sorry for disappointing you," He grinned at them.

"Well still," Said Ron, "Marrying a Cessi, that must have been something!"

Darren sipped his tea.

"To be honest her ancestry never ever bothered me."

"Huh? Why not?"

Professor Cessi put his tea on the table.

"So, you three think that it is good to have a famous ancestor and be praised for it?"

"Well, yeah!" Answered Ron.

Cessi's face suddenly became very serious.

"Then let me ask you this: Do you think someone deserves to be blamed for whatever an infamous ancestor did?"

"What?"

Harry could see Ron thinking about this.

"Well, if they're nothing like that ancestor then no!"

"The way I see it, if a person cannot be held responsible for the actions his ancestor committed, then neither can they be praised for heroic things their ancestor did."

"But that's different!"

"No it isn't. If someone cannot be held responsible for the terrible actions their ancestors committed, then it's not fair for one to be praised for great things their ancestors did either. Dumbledore taught us that a person must be judged by their own actions, and not by those of their ancestors. Well apart from Transfiguration, that is! Besides it's very uncomfortable to be thanked for doing things you don't ever remember doing."

This Harry could actually understand. He had always felt uncomfortable when people praise him for conquering Nargoa, yet he has no whole memories of the moment.

"I was only saying it was a cool thing," Ron muttered.

"I understand that, I was only telling you that I think that a person should be judged by their own character and not that of their ancestors. After all, isn't that what the whole 'blood purity' is based on? The status of someone depending on who their parents and grandparents are?

Harry had never thought of it like that.

* * *

Ever since acquiring it Harry felt strangely attached to the diary. He was also baffled as to how it could remain intact, as he discovered one time when ink spilt over all his things yet the diary remained free of ink.

One night, Harry had the urge to write in the diary. When he dropped a drop of ink into the book, it disappeared. He then began writing messages in the diary, which disappeared. To his amazement, the diary wrote back to him. According to the diary, its name was Adam. Harry asked 'Adam' if he knew anything about the Chamber of Secrets. 'Adam' told him that during his Sixth Year, there were attacks on muggleborns, though the teachers denied that the chamber had been opened. However, he had helped catch the heir, and once caught the Headmaster at the time covered the whole thing up. When Harry wrote if he could tell him who the Heir was, 'Adam' wrote that he couldn't tell him.

But he could show him.

At that moment, Harry felt himself be sucked into the diary. Next thing he knew he was in a room that looked like Dumbledore's office, except someone else was sitting at his desk. There was a knock on the door. The person told him to enter. Harry recognised the blond haired student coming in to be Adam B Eago. Judging from his appearance this must be during his Sixth Year.

"Ah, Eago, sit down," The headmaster told him, as if he was in trouble.

Adam did as he was told.

"Now then, in your regards to your request to stay over the summer, I'm afraid I cannot grant it. Surely you must understand the danger that the school is in right now?"

"But Sir, I am a Half-Blood and a Slytherin. The culprit has only ever attacked muggleborns, surely I'm in no danger-"

"Do not question me, Eago!" The headmaster snapped.

But Adam brought up a valid point, Harry thought. The Heir only attacked muggleborns, surely no half or pureblood was in danger?

"Besides," the headmaster added, "Given your, er, heritage, the Heir may go after you and your brothers as well. Why do you even want to stay over the summer? Surely you want to spend time with your family?"

"I only wished to increase my studying, Sir."

"Well there may be no need for that," The headmaster sighed, "The board's threatening to close us down, as it is. I don't know why I'm telling you this."

"Sir, if the culprit was to be caught, would that stopped the governors from closing the school down?"

For the first time since Adam came into the room, the headmaster looked straight at him.

"Why? Do you know something, Adam?"

Harry noted that this was the first time the headmaster addressed him by his first name.

"No Sir, I was just asking."

"Oh."

The headmaster looked disappointed.

"Oh. Well-very well- you can go now."

Adam stood up and left the office. Harry followed him.

It looked like he was returning to the Slytherin chambers.

"You're strangely up at a late hour."

Harry and Adam turned around. Leaning against a wall, arms crossed, with his left leg bent and foot resting against the wall, was a student the same age as Adam. In face, he looked a lot like him, with the exception that he looked taller and thinner. Smiling at Adam, the student walked towards him. Harry gasped. He didn't recognise him at first, but there was no mistaking it now.

He was looking at a sixteen-year old Darren Cessi.


	2. The Gem of Nevalow

**I do not own 'Harry Potter' or anything related**

* * *

"I needed to ask the headmaster if I could stay over the summer," Adam innocently told Cessi.

"And why would you want to stay at school over the summer?" He asked him suspiciously.

Cessi was now eye to eye with Adam. At first, Harry thought that Cessi was taller, but now they looked like the same height. Cessi's smile never faltered. Adam's face suddenly became bestial.

"It's none of your business, Darren!"

And he stormed away. Harry had no choice but to follow him. The scene suddenly changed. Adam was being followed by a handful of teachers through the corridors. He was holding a rooster in his hands.

"This way, quickly!" He told the teachers, "We may be able to get there in time!"

They arrived at the door that Harry recognised led to the girls' bathroom. Adam closed his eyes as he opened the door.

"STOP, RIDDLE!" He roared, "I have a rooster and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Harry screamed at what was in the bathroom. Out of where one of the sinks was, was the head of a gigantic green snake. In the bathroom there was also a boy the same age as Adam. Harry saw Adam point his wand at the rooster.

"NO!" The boy cried, "_Get out of here, flee! Close!" _He screamed at the snake, in what Harry recognised as Parseltongue. As the snake retracted back through the hole, the rooster crowed. The snake looked as if a sword was thrust through its neck. The sink closed in front of it like a door.

"Freeze, Riddle!" the headmaster shouted, his wand raise like the other teachers'. One of them rushed to the open cubicle. Harry realised it was a fifty year younger Dumbledore.

"Is there a student in there, Albus?" the headmaster asked, "Is he or she all right?"

Dumbledore looked up. His face was sombre.

"No Armando, I'm sorry," He said, "We didn't make it in time."

Armando looked at Riddle. He shook his head.

"I never would have thought that it was you who was behind these attacks, Riddle. You were our most gifted pupil, and a prefect too! You had such a promising future ahead of you, and now you've thrown it all away, and for what?"

Riddle looked speechless.

"This is my fault!"

Harry turned to look at Adam. He had his hand covering his face. He looked wreck with guilt.

"I was scared of what Voldemort would do to me if I turned him in-that's what he forces us to call him- if only I had been a little braver, that student wouldn't have died! It never would have come to his-"

He was now in tears. Armando put his hand on his shoulder.

"You have no need to feel guilty, Adam. Very few people would have come forward like you, given the circumstances. I apologise for being so hostile towards you."

Riddle's face had become bestial.

"YOU FILTHY LITTLE BLOOD TRAITOR!" He roared, raising his wand at Adam.

It flew out of his hand and into one of the teachers'. They then all aimed their wands at Riddle and ropes flew out of them, tying around Riddle. His expression became almost identical to that of the snake that was in here a moment ago.

"YOU TRAITOR! HOW DARE YOU TURN ON A FELLOW SLYTHERIN! HOW DARE YOU BETRAY THE HEIR OF SLYTHERIN! HOW DARE YOU STOP SALAZAR SLYTHERIN'S NOBLE WORK! YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO THE HOUSE! YOU ARE NOT FIT TO BE IN HIS HOUSE!"

Adam just stared at him.

"No, Riddle. It is you who are a disgrace to the house of Slytherin."

As Riddle continued to shout insults at Adam, Harry felt himself rise in the air. He was being sucked out of this world of memory, and out of the diary. It was at that moment that Ron entered.

"You alright, Harry?" He asked.

Harry turned to look at him.

"I know who the Heir is," He said.

* * *

The next day, Harry told Hermione everything he had told Ron.

"So what, are we thinking this Riddle or Voldemort escaped from Azkaban or something?" Ron asked.

"Azkaban?" Harry asked.

"It's the wizard prison, Harry," Hermione told him.

"He must have done," Said Harry, "He's escaped somehow to finish what he started fifty years ago."

"But how?" Pointed out Hermione, "No one's ever escaped from Azkaban before!"

"Maybe he used some sort of dark magic he inherited from Slytherin?" Ron suggested.

Hermione wasn't too sure.

"If there's been a breakout from Azkaban, then why haven't we heard of anything? Something like that would have made it into the Prophet!"

"Dunno, maybe no one knows he's escaped?" Ron suggested.

"Or maybe they've covered it up?" Said Harry.

"There's something else I don't get," Said Hermione, "From what you've told us Harry, it sounds like Eago killed the basilisk with the rooster he was holding. If that's so, then how is it still alive today?"

"Dunno," Shrugged Harry, "Maybe it wasn't near enough to be killed, or perhaps the sink closed before whatever effect the rooster was having on it could be finished.

"Yeah, maybe," Admitted Hermione, "It's just that from what I've read, even a slight crow is enough to kill a basilisk."

* * *

What was the diary doing here? Harry thought. How did it get here? Was Ginny the one who brought it down here? But why? Was she the one who stole it? But-why? Why did Ginny want the diary? Did she believe that it was his, and wanted to know how he really felt about her? He couldn't believe that Ginny would do something like that. Then again, he hadn't known her that long. He looked up. At the top of the structure was another student. He was facing a giant purple gem, resting at the top of the pyramidal structure.

"It was here," He was muttering, stroking it, "It was here all along."

Harry got a better look at the student. He was of average height and had blond hair. When he got closer, he couldn't believe who it was.

"Adam? Adam Eago?"

The student spun around. Adam smiled.

"Ah, Harry! Good, you're awake. I was worried that you wouldn't be around to see this moment."

Harry did not understand. He didn't understand how he was there in front of him, not aging for fifty years.

"Are you a ghost?" Harry asked.

Adam shook his head.

"No. An imprint of the real Adam Brant Eago, laying dormant in that diary for over fifty years."

It was then that it occurred to Harry that he must be in the Chamber of Secrets. But where was the Heir? And the basilisk? He tried to take out his wand, but couldn't find it in his robe pockets. He looked around for it. Was it still in the girls' bathroom?

"Looking for this?"

Harry turned around. Adam was holding up his wand. His mouth had broken into a large smile, his eyes glinting. It was the same expression Ginny had before. The exact same expression. Despite this, Harry smiled.

"Thanks."

He stretched out his hand to receive his wand. Eago, however, just stood there smiling at him, waving the wand.

"Give me my wand, Adam!"

"No."

"Look, I may need it!"

"You won't be needing it."

"Sorry, I don't think you understand. I think we're in the Chamber of Secrets! Riddle and Slytherin's monster could arrive at any moment!"

"Riddle?" Adam laughed, "Riddle has been locked away in Azkaban for fifty years, Slytherin's monster hasn't attacked anyone since."

Harry was getting frustrated now.

"Look, don't you get it?" Harry snapped, "We're in the CHAMBER OF SECRETS, Riddle's been attacking muggleborns again, just like he did fifty years ago, remember me telling you?"

"No, my dear boy, YOU don't get it!" Adam snarled. His expression had become bestial. Harry did not understand.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"My God, boy, you're surprisingly thick! Haven't you realised it yet? Isn't it obvious?"

Harry still did not understand. Adam sighed.

"I was the one who attacked those muggleborns! I was the one who stunned you and your friend, Ron! And it was I who dragged you down here to witness this moment!"

Harry's brain went numb.

"I really thought that me taking your wand was kinda a giveaway. Oh well, still," He grinned, "Big twist, eh?"

What Adam was saying didn't make sense. He was the one who caught the Heir of Slytherin, why would he be the one who was continuing his work? And it was Ginny who attacked Harry and Ron, not Adam!

Unless…

"Of course," Eago added, "I did do all those things through Ginny Weasley."

"WHAT! H-How did you-?"

"You see that diary down there? It had come into the hands of Ginny over there. And as she poured her soul into me, into the diary, I was able to pour a bit of my soul in her…"

What Eago was telling Harry was horrifying.

"But how could you have been the one who had attacked the muggleborn students this time? Unless…YOU'RE THE HEIR OF SLYTHERIN?"

"Oh good gracious no!" Eago laughed, "One infamous ancestor is quite enough for me! No, what I showed you was all true. It was Tom Riddle who was the Heir of Slytherin, who led the basilisk out to attack muggleborns."

"Then…how could you attack them, if you didn't have the monster?"

"Didn't I already tell you? THE MONSTER HAS NOT ATTACKED ANYONE IN FIFTY YEARS."

Realisation was starting to dawn on Harry.

"Then…what did?"

"I've already told you that as well. I did, through Ginny Weasley, of course!"

"But…no! What attacked them couldn't have been human, otherwise Dumbledore would have been able to heal Mrs Norris-"

"Oh yes, Harry, no human spell in the world could possibly be undoable, if no human spell can't be undone, it must be something inhuman, shouldn't it?"

"But why would you attack muggleborns, if you were the one who caught the Heir in the first place? Or have you had a change a heart, and thought of finishing what Riddle started?"

"What, drive out muggleborns?" Eago roared with laughter, "Why would I want to do that? Why would I want to deprive wizardkind of fresh talent and blood? Why would I want to force my kind to intermarry, to the extent that we marry our own cousins, and become so inbred that we're unable to perform the simplest spell? I may have been sorted in Slytherin, Harry, but that does not mean I share my kin's narrow mindedness. And besides, if I really wanted to kill muggleborns, I would have done so."

"Then-why? If you didn't want to get rid of muggleborns, why did you attack them?"

"To make you think what you thought had attacked them. To make you think that Slytherin's monster was unleashed once more. To make you try to solve the mystery, to track down the Chamber of Secrets, and open it yourselves."

Harry stared at him.

"I don't understand."

"No. I didn't think you would. Well, Harry, let me explain in its entirety. It all begins, and ends," He tapped the gem with his wand, "With this little gem here."

He smiled at Harry.

"Would you like me to tell you a bedtime story, Harry?"

No he did not, but he didn't see any other choice. Eago began.

"Once upon a time, there was a wizard named Nevalow. And he was a BAD wizard, or at least that's what people thought of him to be. For he was also a GOOD wizard, and a powerful one at the day too, power that rivalled Cain Eago's, an ally of his, considered to be the most terrible dark wizard to ever live. Among his many inventions, his greatest achievement was a very special gem, perhaps the most powerful magical artefact ever created! But when the final battle approached between his side and the GOOD side, he decided that he needed to hide his most valuable treasure, to keep it safe. But where to hide it? Where would be the safest place? And that's when it hit him. The Chamber of Secrets, where no one knew its location. He had guessed the location of the chamber, but how to open it? Because it was said that only the Heir could do so. But Nevalow had worked out what the key to the chamber was. He realised that it had to be something uniquely passed down through the Slytherin family. It couldn't be any odd old spell, that could easily be forgotten over a thousand years, it must be something that could never be lost in the family. But what could that be? It was then that Nevalow remembered that Slytherin's most unique gift was his ability to speak to snakes, something that it was rumoured every Slytherin could speak from birth. And that's when Nevalow realised how to open the chamber. He needed someone who could speak parseltongue. And as it happens, he knew one (Slytherin was obviously so proud of his gift, thought so highly of himself, that he didn't consider another parselmouth being capable of opening the chamber!). And so he had him open the chamber, took the gem down with him, and created an adjacent chamber, hiding the gem there. And so, while Nevalow lived miserably ever after in Azkaban, his gem remained hidden, in a secret chamber within a secret chamber! The perfect hiding place!

"That was the bedtime story told to me by my mother, along with other stories connected to my 'illustrious' ancestor, Cain Eago, and I became fascinated with the story. Alas, I never thought I could ever open it, not knowing any parselmouth.

"Then along came Tom Riddle, who as it happened, could speak to snakes. My fellow Slytherins were in awe with this ability. Many wondered if he was the last living descendant of Slytherin. For me it didn't matter. From what I was told it was clear that any old parselmouth could open the chamber. And so over the years, I approached Riddle, I fed his ego, I assured him of his supremacy, his destiny to rule the wizarding world, to finish what Slytherin had started!

"Not directly, mind you. For being descended from the most infamous Slytherin hater of all time, I wasn't exactly popular within my house. But I dropped subtle hints, including the tale of the Chamber of Secrets. I had hoped that Riddle, filled with pride, would track down the chamber, and attempt to open it and unleash Slytherin's monster upon the school. It took six years, but it finally happened. We had found the chamber. He had opened it. But while he was finishing Salazar Slytherin's 'noble work', I was doing something a bit more constructive. Every time he opened the chamber I would slip down undetected, and search for Nevalow's chamber. Which wasn't easy, mind you. Nevalow didn't exactly make it easy to find even within the chamber. And of course my time was limited each time. I had to get out of there before Riddle had sent the monster back into the chamber and closed it.

"And then he had to kill that girl, just when I was so close to finding the chamber. And I found out from Dippet that the school was going to be closed down. I knew that it was over.

"But was I going to let my work be ruined, all that trouble come to naught? No Harry, I had to make sure that the chamber could be open again. And for that I needed another parselmouth.

"I had long suspected from what I was told, that unlike usual parselmouths, who learn snake language through close affinity with the animal, that the ability in Slytherins was hereditary, as if they were part snake themselves. I've never understood it much, but it was clear that the ability could be passed down genetically. And so I took an old hair from Riddle's bed, and I swore, I swore that one day, I would extract that aspect of Riddle that enabled him to speak to snakes, and transfer that ability into someone else. And I can see that I stuck to my promise."

Harry stared at him. He did not like where this conversation was going.

"What are you talking about?"

"Haven't you ever wondered how you're able to speak to snakes? You speak it because of me, because I injected the gene that carries the ability into your parents, which has been passed down to you."

Everything that Eago had told him so far had not horrified him more until now.

"You- put a bit of the Heir- of Slytherin-in me?"

"Just the Parselmouth gene. I can imagine how it went. Over the years I would have caught or cornered a number of people, and they seemed to have escaped, when in fact I let them escape, but only when I had secretly and stealthily injected them with a sample of Riddle's DNA. I see that out of all the fifty people I injected, the ability has only manifested in you. Perhaps your DNA was more compatible to Riddle, you certainly bear somewhat of a resemblance to him! I have been waiting for you for fifty years, my parselmouth!

"Of course, replicating the key was only half of my plan. For I also needed to replicate the user, so I left an imprint of myself in a diary, so that one day the imprint would guide the key into opening the Chamber.

"However, all has not gone to plan. I meant for my diary to fall into the hands of my parselmouth, so that I could control him or her. But I learnt enough from Ginny Weasley about you. You struck me as the type of person who would get down to the bottom of a mystery, so my plan was simple. I would petrify people, paint a message that the Chamber of Secrets had been open, make it look like the same attack as fifty years ago, to make you find the Chamber of Secrets itself and open it, so I could finally discover and open Nevalow's chamber!"

"But, wait a minute! If the basilisk has never been released, and it was you who attack all the muggleborn students, then what was the voice I was hearing within the walls?"

"Oh, you mean this?"

Eago pointed his wand to the ground.

"Serpensortia!"

A snake erupted from the wand.

"Tell me, Harry, was this the voice you were hearing? Imperio!"

The snake was hissing, but instead of hissing Harry could hear words.

"_Come to me…let me hurt you…let me kill you…!"_

It was the exact same voice he had heard all year.

"That…was what I was hearing?"

"Oh yes! Every now and again I would create a snake, imperiase it and send it through the pipes, to confirm what you would later discover that it was a basilisk.

"However, when you came across my diary, I gave up on staging the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. I was confident that if I was in your hands long enough, I could possess you like I did with poor Ginny, and open the Chamber myself."

His expression suddenly became bestial.

"However Ginny then stole me from you, fearing what I would tell you what she told me. For you see, she was aware of having memory gaps, and feared she was the one attacking the students. She told me all about it.

"So I had to restart the whole Slytherin monster thing again. However you seemed content that the Chamber had been closed so in order to get you more motivated I attack your friend Hermione Granger, and later made you believe that the Heir had kidnapped Ginny and brought her to the Chamber."

"So," Harry's tightened fists were shaking, "You went through all this trouble, manipulating Riddle, attacking muggleborns, possessing Ginny, manipulating me, all so you can get your hands on a shiny rock?"

"This is no ordinary shiny rock, Harry. Do you really think I would have gone through all of this just to acquire wealth, when there were easier ways? I am not a mad genius who comes up with overly unnecessarily complicated plans just for the fun of it! I've already told you that this is the most magical artefact in the world."

"Then tell me!" Harry spat, "What's so special about this gem that you have called all this misery for?"

Eago's grin became even wider. His eyes seemed to glow red.

"It has the power to drain magic."

The only sound that was made was the dripping of water.

"What do you mean?" Harry slowly asked.

"Exactly as I said it. The gem of Nevalow has the power to suck out magic from any nearby area, and can transfer the power elsewhere. Just as the muggle world is based on technology, the wizarding world is based on magic, and just as the one who has a monopoly on technology controls the muggle world, he who controls magic controls the wizarding world! Imagine it, Harry. The power to defeat my enemies by ripping them of their magic forever! To bring others to my side by offering them power! I can use its power to become the most powerful sorcerer in the world! No, scrap that," he added frowning, "I can use its power to become a god!"

Eago turned to grasp the gem.

"There's just one thing I'd like to know before I end the wizarding world as we know it."

"And what's that?" Harry snapped.

"How is it that a baby with no extraordinary powers defeat his majesty, the great sorcerer, Tebadam Nargo?"

Harry was startled by this question.

"Why do you care? Nargoa was after your time!"

Eago chuckled.

"Tebadam Nargoa is my past, present and future, Harry Potter."

He started writing his name in the air with his wand.

"Riddle was ashamed of being named after a muggle who abandoned him and his mother just because she was a witch. That's why he gave himself a new name. Nevalow was similar. His real name was Daniel Newton, yet he sought to make himself distinct by giving himself a unique name. They weren't alone. I too gave myself a new name."

Eventually he finished writing:

ADAM BRANT EAGO

He waved his hands. They now spelt:

TEBADAM NARGOA

"So you see," Grinned Eago at the startled Harry, "It was a name I had already come up with at school, a name that only my brothers knew of. Was I to forever bear the shame of being descended from a muggle and squib lover, or the name Brant, the weakest Eago branch, whose members were mediocre in comparison to others and the great dark wizard whose name still invoked fear when I was at school?"

He shook his head.

"No, Harry. I fashioned myself a new identity, a name** that I knew would send a chill down the spine of every wizard and witch**, **when** **I became THE GREATEST SORCERER IN THE WORLD!"**

His booming voice bounced around the great chamber. His eyes had become glowing red. Harry stared at the boy Adam Eago, who would grow up to kill his parents, and so many others.

"You're-not," He managed to say through gritted teeth.

"**NOT WHAT?" **Eago demanded.

"Not the greatest sorcerer in the world. I hate to disappoint you, but his name is Darren Cessi!"

"Darren who?"

His voice had become normal again, his eyes returning to their normal, black colour.

"Darren Cessi, the professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts here, the one everyone says stood up against you, and if he's anything like his ancestor, if it wasn't for me he would have defeated you, just Like Lucas Cessi defeated Cain Eago! He's still here teaching while you've had your powers broken. You're now in hiding, you're nothing now!"

Eago was frowning.

"This Darren Cessi," He asked slowly, "Does he look like me? Only taller, thinner, with deep blue eyes and not as handsome or athletic?"

Eago had described him perfectly, apart from the last two bits. As if he read his mind, Eago stared at him. He then roared with laughter.

"Darren Cessi!" He managed to say through his fits of laughter, "So that's what he's calling himself nowadays! Oh! It seems Michael and I weren't the only ones who discarded our surname! And I can see he's done a good job on you! Oh!"

He got a hold of himself.

"You still haven't answered my question though. How did you defeat me in the future?"

Harry didn't know what to do. Perhaps if he kept him talking, he could stall him from getting his hands on the gem, although that's all he could do.

"You were defeated," Harry began, "Because my mother died trying to save me from you. And her sacrifice left her protection on me, and whatever curse you tried to inflict on me rebounded!"

Eago's eyes went wide.

"You're kidding me? That's what defeated me? Love? I, the great Tebadam Nargoa, the greatest wizard who ever lived, whose feats even outshone Cain Eago's and pushed him back into the history books where he was forgotten, was defeated by love?"

He groaned.

"I wished you didn't tell me now! I was kinda hoping that it was some kind of hidden power that defeated me. Like you could use telekinesis or could perform magic at an early age, but it was LUV that defeated me?"

"That's right, love!" Harry shouted, "The love that my mother had for me, the love that made her die for me! She loved me so much that she was willing to die for me, and that protected me from you, forever!"

He shouted the last few words, as if to make it clear to the world. Eago started to smile.

"So, you are proud, are you? Of your mother's sacrifice? How she killed herself, and left you an orphan, in the care of muggles who, from what I gathered from Ginny, made your life miserable?"

Once again, Eago said something to Harry that made his core shake, harder than anything he said previously.

"She didn't kill herself!"

"She might have well done," Eago shrugged, "She might as well have taken that wand and killed herself with it if what you told me is true. She didn't have to die, but she choose to."

"She died protecting me-!"

"And left you in the care of people who did not love you, made you an orphan who missed his parents dearly. Forgive me if I don't see the nobility in that."

Harry stared at him.

"People make a big deal about others sacrificing themselves for others, for the ones they love, yet they never seem to consider how that death affects the people they love. What is noble in an action that is clearly selfish? When a person flings themselves on the crossfire of a loved one, are they really thinking about that loved one's well being, or are they really thinking about their own, their own state of mind? Do they ever consider how their death will leave not only the one they protect, but also all the ones they love? From my opinion, perhaps a truer, more selfless act of love would be to sacrifice the one you love, rather than sacrificing yourself for the one you love."

"And what would you know about love?" Harry shouted at him. Eago raised an eyebrow.

"What do you, you who have never known your parents? You who had never received love from the family you grew up with? Or do you perhaps love your friends, or Professor Cessi, the man you so clearly admire?"

Harry didn't answer him.

"Well this has been an interesting chat, Harry, but right now I've really got to start the dawning of a new era."

Before he could turn back to the gem, they both hear a loud 'QUACK!' They looked upwards. A duck was flying into the chamber. It swooped down to where Eago's diary was laying, and transformed into Professor Cessi.

"Professor!" Harry cried. He was very glad to see this person right now.

"You!" Eago shrieked, his eyes going wide with rage.

"Hello, little brother," Cessi greeted him, "long time no see."


	3. The Sword Of Gryffindor

**I do not own 'Harry Potter' or anything related.**

* * *

"I knew it!" Eago was shouting, "I friggin knew it! I knew that this 'Darren Cessi' had to be you! My second guess was a son of yours."

Professor Cessi looked over Eago's shoulder, at the gemstone.

"I see you've finally found the gem of Nevalow," Cessi said.

"Yes. It only took about fifty years to find," Eago replied.

"Adam," Cessi began, "I must ask you to turn away from this mad desire. If you don't do so, then I'll have no choice but to have you destroyed. Walk away NOW."

Eago stared at Cessi. Harry had the feeling that he recognised something the teacher said that Harry did not know. Then he burst out laughing.

"Turn away? After all the trouble I've gone through acquiring it? No, sorry big brother," Adam grinned, "But I have no intention of walking away from this stone!"

Professor Cessi looked solemn.

"Very well," He replied, "You leave me no choice. Harry, get behind me."

Harry did so. Cessi walked forwards.

"Stay where you are," He told him, "I'll battle Nargoa."

Harry noticed that the Sorting Hat now rested on top of the diary.

Professor Cessi whipped out his wand and the gem flew out of its holding and through the air. Not expecting this to happen, Eago's eyes went wide. He disappeared and reappeared above the chamber, grabbing the gem with his arms. Then he disappeared and reappeared back to the floor at the centre of the chamber.

"You can disapparate?" Cessi asked. He clearly was not expecting Eago to be able to do this, "But you can't apparate or disapparate within Hogwarts ground!"

"We're not in Hogwarts here," Eago told him, "Nevalow just happened to build his chamber slightly outside the vicinity of the school!"

Cessi flicked his wand and the gem shot out of Eago's arms and flew towards the professor.

"Oh no you don't!" Eago pointed his wand, "Fulgarsempra!"

A lightning bolt shot out of his wand, but Cessi had already anticipated this and the bolt hit an invisible wall. The gemstone came into Cessi's left hand. Eago sneered.

"And what are you going to do with the gem now that you have got it?" He asked, "Do you really think that Nevalow didn't leave a few charms to make sure his most precious item wasn't destroyed?"

He shot another bolt at Cessi, who deflected it with an invisible wall. He shot a spell at Eago, who brought up his wand.

"Fulgarprotego!"

An electrical wall had appeared and the spell smashed against it. He disappeared and reappeared behind Cessi and shot another bolt. Cessi blocked it, and shot a spell. Eago kept disappearing and reappearing around Cessi, shooting bolts. It was hard to tell where he was going to appear. Harry couldn't understand how Cessi kept up. He'd shoot a few spells at Eago, but he just either blocked them or disappeared before he could be hit.

"Fifty years later, and you're still using that inferior magic, eh Darren?"

Cessi raised an eyebrow.

"Inferior? In what way?"

"Do you know how muggles see wizards? They think of them as these powerful people who throw fireballs and shoot lightningbolts from their fingertips and wield long staves. How disappointed do you think they would be if they knew that real wizards just shoot jets of light at each other using little wussy wands and they can't even perform magic without them, or at least don't even try!"

Eago pointed his wand upwards. His wand crackled.

"But I," Eago touched the electrical energry emanating from his wand, "I wield true magic, magic not seen since the days of the great Cain Eago!"

"I thought you despised Eago, Adam? Isn't that why you changed your name?"

"I both admire and detest Cain. Admire him for his power, for the fact that he was considered to be the most terrible dark wizard in a century, and rightly so, his influence extending across the wizarding world. He had power never seen before! However I cannot forgive him for his defence of muggles and squibs. Nevertheless I don't think anyone has ever harnessed the same power he did in our whole family as closely as me! Not even Voldemort could wield magic quite like I do, and everyone thought HE was the greatest wizard of all time? Oh I remember everyone talking about Voldemort, about Tom Riddle, about how handsome he was, about how talented he was, about how he was going to take over the wizarding world. And you know what, I think he would have, or at least taken over wizarding Britain. And what did he ever do that was extraordinary, like I did? What unique bit of magic did he ever wield? NONE! And you know what, his style of dark lord would have involved hiding for most of the time. People would have feared the name of a mediocre wizard, would talk about how he was taking over the wizarding world when in fact all he ever concentrated on were two little islands! I was more worthy of praise than he was!"

Cessi raised an eyebrow.

"One would think that you were jealous of Riddle, Adam."

"Jealous?" Eago laughed, "Jealous of a half-blood, of a half breed who's parentage wasn't even purely wizard, of a half-wizard who's power was mediocre compared to mine? I, the better dueller, I, the better talented, the more intelligent, the more athletic? If there was one thing I was jealous of, it was attention that he did not deserve!"

"Is that the real reason you framed him, Adam? He was bound to stop himself, and frame some poor soul for his misdeeds. You know what I think? I think you goaded him on, convinced him that the Heir of Slytherin would never give up, just so you could catch him in the act, and have him wheeled him off to Azkaban, and take the title of Dark Lord for yourself, just like you stole his diary and made it your own."

Adam laughed.

"I did the wizarding world a favour! I saved it from a wizard undeserving to be the Dark Lord! I took what was mine by right, by right of might! Ginny told me all about the misdeeds of Tebadam Nargoa, about how he united the dark wizard underworld, how his armies spread throughout the wizarding World, and by wizarding world I don't mean just wizarding Britain, I MEAN the wizarding WORLD, and my power extended to the muggle world as well! I conquered lands, where he would have just concentrated on a couple of islands using cloak and dagger methods! I am more worthy of the title of Dark Lord than he ever could be! And yet, why do the wizards never learned to fear my name? Voldemort forsaw the day when people would fear to speak the very name he crafted, why couldn't people learn to fear my name just as equally? I have done far more than he ever could in his life, and still everyone would have been in awe of him more than me! Why, why don't people fear to speak my name?"

Cessi just stared at Eago. It looked a bit like pity.

"Perhaps you are right. Perhaps you are more of a Dark Lord than Voldemort could have been. But Adam there are different kinds of evil and different kinds of dark lord, and different kinds that people fear. As for your magic, wizards could throw fireballs and shoot lightning bolts if they really wanted to, but the fact that we don't is because it is unnecessary. The little jets of light that we shoot do enough magic that we intend. The literature that muggles read about wizards harnessing the elements is meant to entertain. And as for staves, you know that the reason they're not widely use is because wands are cheaper, easier to make and less of a unisex tool. Your magic is like the moves in a martial arts movie. They're all flash."

Eago stared at Cessi. His face slowly gained a fierce expression. He roared as he shot a lightning bolt more powerful than any of the ones before. Cessi held up his wand, but he was struggling against the energy that Eago was inflicting on him.

Cessi tripped on a loose pebble, toppling over. He got blasted by some of the electricity.

"PROFESSOR!" Harry cried.

Cessi managed to look up, although clearly weakened. Eago glared at him, his hand tightly around his wand.

"What was that you just said about my magic, Darren?" He jeered, "All flash, did you say?"

"Professor!" Harry shouted at him, about to come to his aid.

"STAY WHERE YOU ARE, HARRY!" Cessi shouted, raising his hand.

"But-Professor-!" Harry stammered.

He wanted to help him. The professor was in danger. As if he could read his mind, Cessi told him, "Harry, if you want to help me, if you want to make sure that Nargoa doesn't get his hands on the stone, then the best thing you must do is STAY-WHERE-YOU-ARE!"

Stay where he was? But what good would that do? Stay where you are. Was he supposed to do something where he was? He didn't have his wand with him. He couldn't do anything. All he had was the diary and the Sorting Hat. Wait. Was he supposed do something with the Hat? Is that why Cessi left it there? Surely wearing it wasn't going to do anything useful! With no other idea, Harry put on the hat. Help us. He begged of the help, help us please! He felt really stupid, putting it on when he had already been sorted. Eago stared at him. He roared with laughter.

"What are you hoping to achieve there, Harry?" Eago jeered, "That the Sorting Hat will give you some crucial advice as to how to defeat me? Now where was I? Oh yes," Eago raised his wand, "Fulgarlassio!"

A thin lightning bolt acting like a rope shot out of the tip of the wand and curled itself around the gem. Eago pulled the wand and the gem came flying into his free hand.

"Now then," Said Eago, "All that remained for Nevalow to use the gem was the perfect incantation,"

His smile became even wider.

"And I think I know what to say."

He raised the gem in the air. While all this was happening, Harry felt something hard hit his head within the hat. Taking it off, he pull out the objext. It was a sword. What was he supposed to do, stab the diary with it? Surely it wasn't that simple? There was nothing for it. If what Eago said was true, then he was about to rip magic out of all the nearby area. From the school, from the students, from the teachers- all would be rendered powerless. Harry raised the sword.

"DEVORE-" Eago began, but before he could finish Harry plunged the sword into the diary. Eago screamed, dropping the gem, clutching his heart, as if Harry had just ran the sword through him. Ink oozed from the book like blood. Eago looked at Cessi.

"You-you knew…I knew you knew something, - but I didn't think you'd actually go throught with it…"

"I'm sorry, Adam."

Harry had never seen him look so sombred like.

"But you gave me no choice."

"But-it goes against-your code!"

"Come here, Adam."

Darren had managed to get up and walked towards Eago to hug him.

"I-I'm scared, Darren!"

"I know you are. Just relax. Relax. It's nothing to be afraid of. It's just like going to sleep."

Eago now screamed worse than ever before. Then before Harry's eyes, he vanished.

At that moment Ginny had woken up with a start, like from a nightmare.

"Was goin on?"

Harry turned around to see Ron had awoken. Probably by the screams Eago was emitting. Harry now turned to look at Cessi. His back to him, Harry couldn't tell his expression. He wiped his face with his arm. When he turned around, he seemed fine, although hardly cheerful. He now picked up the gem.

"All this," He said, "For a gem. But what to do with it now? Adam was right. Nevalow wouldn't have made it so easy to be destroyed. Yet it is too dangerous to be around, even within the chamber. Someone else may try to do with he did, and attempt to obtain the gem. I wonder…Harry, could you pass me that sword please?"

Getting up, Harry handed to him the sword that he had used to destroy Eago. For a moment, Cessi hesitated.

"I feel like I'm about to destroy a work of art," he said, "Someone's legacy. But still-"

He smashed the tip of the sword on the top of the gem.

"The power to control all magic," He continued, "Should not belong in anyone's hands."

Cracks spread throughout the gem, bearing the resemblance of a tree's roots. Cessi dropped it on the floor. It smashed into a thousand pieces. Nevalow's most powerful and terrible invention was now gone forever.

"And now," Cessi continued, "All that is left to do is get out of here. Follow me children."

Ron had earlier noticed Ginny, and ran to hug her. Cessi walked towards the exit.

"Harry, if you would be so kind as to bring that diary," Cessi asked him. Harry did so.

Ginny had broken from her brother.

"It's all my fault, Professor!" Ginny confessed tearfully, "It was me! I attacked all those people!"

"Wh-what?" Ron aksed, bewildered, "Ginny, what are you talking about?"

"Well it wasn't really me. Eago made me. The diary I found and he talked to me and he was taking me over! Professor, I'm probably going to get expelled, aren't I?"

Harry truned to Cessi.

"Professor, Ginny's not going to be expelled, is she?" He asked.

"Don't be ridiculous Harry," Cessi told him, "Expelled for what? Being possessed by a dark wizard? If that was a crime, then the cells of Azkaban would be very full."

The students followed him.

"Harry, Ginny, Professor, WHAT is going on?" Ron demanded, "Where are we? The last thing I remember is getting attacked by Ginny the moment we were about to enter the chamber, Ginny, why did you attack us? I thought the Heir of Slytherin had kidnapped you?"

"Haven't you been listening, Ron?" Cessi said, "Ginny was possessed by Nargoa, who used to go by the name Adam Eago many years ago. The same Eago who wrote that diary Harry has, and who left an imprint of himself that took over your sister, and made her do horrible things."

Ron looked shocked.

"N-Nargoa and Eago are one and the same? And what do you mean those terrible things? I thought that was the Heir of Slytherin?"

"Ron, there never was an Heir of Slytherin," Harry told Ron, "Not this time round, anyway. Eago had staged the whole thing just so I could open the chamber, so he could get in to get this stone that this other dark wizard had left that could absorb magic so that he could take over the wizarding world."

"So let me get this straight. There was this OTHER chamber in the Chamber of Secrets by a completely different terrible dark wizard that contained an object just as bad as the Slytherin's monster?"

"Yes."

"Huh. So wait if the Heir wasn't around then who attacked all those muggleborns?"

"Eago did, himself, through Ginny (At this Ginny burst into sobs). He made it look like it was the monster, and sent a snake through the pipers to confirm what we thought had did it."

"But Hermione said that what attacked Mrs Norris wasn't human!"

"Hermione was wrong," Said Harry. It sounded like a very strange thing to say. Harry and Ron were so deep in conversation that they didn't notice that they had gone through a ton of passageways and right up to a giant open pipe. Next to it were the skeletal remains of a giant snake.

"So," Said Harry, "Hermione was right. The basilisk really has been dead this whole time."

"Yes," answered Cessi.

He waved his wand. Moments later, a couple of brooms flew down through the pipe. The foursome got on them, and flew through the pipers, following Cessi, right up and through the sink. They continued to follow Cessi.

"You should not have come down there by yourselves," Said Cessi, "You should have told a teacher."

"We-didn't think."

Cessi shook his head.

"Didn't your experience with the car teach you anything?" He asked.

Harry felt ashamed, and he could see Ron did as well. Eventually they were led to Dumbledore's office, where Dumbledore and the Weasleys were already. Mrs Weasley hugged Ginny.

"You saved her!" She screamed, shaking Cessi's hand. "Thank you! Thank you!"

"I appreciate your gratitude, Molly," Cessi thanked, "But it isn't me you should be thanking. The one you should be thanking is Harry."

At first Harry thought he and Ron would get into trouble for all of their rule breaking. Instead, however, after Cessi, McGonagall and the Weasleys left, Dumbledore awarded them 200 points for Gryffindor each. After doing this, Dumbledore kept Harry back, wanting to congratulate him for what he did. Before Harry could leave, another figure burst into the room. It was Felus Lecat, Felix Lecat's father, followed by-

Sammie! The house-elf who tried to 'protect' Harry! So he's the Lecat house-elf! Harry thought. Lecat was not happy that Dumbledore had returned. But he had explained that the governors asked him to return after hearing that Arthur Weasley's daughter had been killed by Slytherin's monster. Lecat recomposed him, asking if the culprit had been caught. Dumbledore told him that it was Nargoa, but he had used a poor innocent student to commit his evil through, and that if it wasn't for the diary that Harry had found, Ginny would have taken all the blame, which would have had a disastrous affect on Arthur Weasley's new Muggle Protection Sct. While telling this, Sammie was hinting at the dairy, at Lecat, and then hitting himself. Harry realised what he was trying to say.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Harry asked Lecat. He turned to face him.

"I'm sorry?" Lecat asked.

"You planted the diary. Back then, when we were at Flourish and Blotts. You must have switched it after taking it out of Ginny's cauldron. I don't know what Nargoa told you, but I think he hinted that in order to activate it, a parselmouth was needed. It was also you who convinced the other governors to have the Duelling Club established, wasn't it? I think you wanted to use it as a moment to expose any parselmouth that Nargoa had created. What did you do, tell your son to use Serpensortia in order to reveal which student spoke parseltongue?"

Lecat bent down so he was at face level with Harry. He hissed at him to prove it. Unfortunately there was no way. The diary had been destroyed, so there was no proof connecting Lecat to everything that had happened. After Dumbledore told him that Arthur Weasley was sure to trace anymore of Nargoa's school things to him, Lecat took offence and left, telling Sammie to follow him, who looked miserable. Harry had an idea. Taking the diary, he handed it back to Lecat in his sock, which he tore off in disgust. He told him that his parents were meddlesome fools too, and warned him one day he would meet the same sticky end. Harry smiled.

"You should watch yourself too, Lecat," He told him.

Lecat looked confused.

"What are you talking about?" He demanded.

"Well, from what the Eago who came out of the diary told me, not all with the diary went as planned. It was supposed to come into the hands of a parselmouth, and from the sounds of it, Nargoa put a lot of effort into putting this plan into motion. Fifty years in fact."

Harry's smile became wider.

"How do you think he'll feel if he finds out his plan to take the most powerful object in the world was messed up by his most devoted servant who abused the diary for personal gain? You'd better hope that Nargoa never returns, because I figure he won't be very happy with you."

Lecat went even paler.

"Come, Sammie," he said abruptly, walking away, "Sammie?"

He turned around, and in horror realised that he had accidentally freed Dobby. Staring at Harry, he was enraged. He raised his silver hand, but before he could do anything Sammie blasted Lecat away. Getting up, recomposing himself, Lecat walked away with the remaining dignity he had.

After saying goodbye to Sammie, Harry walked towards the main hall for the feast. Although it had ended on a good note, Harry can't be help but feel angry with himself. This was the second time he had been manipulated by a dark wizard connected with Nargoa. You would have thought that he would have learnt his lesson by now.

* * *

Towards the end of the year, Harry decided to give Professor Cessi a visit. He found him packing his things for the holiday.

"Ah, Harry!" He greeted, "What can I do for you?"

"Professor," Harry began, "There's something I wanted to clear up."

"Certainly, Harry!" Cessi smiled.

"Before, in Nevalow's chamber, you referred to Eago, to Nargoa, as your-brother."

Harry said the last word as if it was too unthinkable. Cessi's smile vanished.

"Yes," He finally said, "It is true. Tebadam Nargoa, Adam Brant Eago, is my triplet brother."

Harry couldn't believe it. He found it hard to believe that Nargoa and Cessi were related!

"So that means," He continued, "That your real name, the name you had before marrying your wife, the name you didn't like, was-"

"Yes, Harry," Cessi answered, "Before I was married, my name was Darren Brant Eago. Unfortunately."

Staring at Cessi, Harry now understood why Cessi had made such a big deal about how someone should not be judged on the deeds of their ancestors.

"It was tough," Cessi told him, as if he knew what he was thinking, sitting back down behind his desk, "Being an Eago. I happened to be born into a dark wizard family. Unfortunately my father, the only legitimate descendant of Eago, was not a very powerful wizard, so he lived in the shadow of more powerful wizards and often bullied by them, so in order to feel powerful he was oppressive towards those he considered weaker than him, such as his sons. My mother was the same. And my brothers, vile children, often bullied me. I have never known the love of a family that normal people have.

"And of course being descended from a terrible dark wizard meant you were shunned by the wizarding community, for even a hundred years later Cain Eago's name still struck fear in people. The rest of the family detested us, either for the fact that we were Eago's only legitimate descendants and were traditionally a weak family or we were despised for being a dark wizard family.

"Life was even worse, in many ways, at Hogwarts. It is hard to bear the sins of the ancestor, to be blamed for things you have no memory of, of people believing you to be just as bad as your terrible ancestor-"

"But that was a century ago!" Harry protested angrily, "Surely people realised that?"

Cessi smiled sombrely at Harry.

"Like I said, the name Eago still struck fear into the hearts of people. I was feared, hated, shunned, persecuted and bullied at school. There was even a time when Hagrid, who was just a year below me, thought I was untrustworthy because of my family."

"No!" Harry protested, not believing that the friendly gamekeeper had acted in such a way.

"Oh yes," Cessi nodded, "Of course I gained his trust. I gained the trust of a number of people later in my life, especially during the war, where I was famed for fighting Nargoa. But fifty years ago, at school-"

He seemed to shudder.

"Not even the teachers trusted me because of my heritage (Harry thought of the way the old headmaster Dippet has acted aggressively towards Nargoa). The only one who did, who didn't care what kind of blood I had, was Albus Dumbledore. I am forever grateful for his kindness."

"But how did you get through that?" Harry asked.

Cessi smiled

"I found a friend, at school. The first friend I had ever had. Her name was Bella Cessi, descendant of the great Lucas Cessi, held to be one of the greatest sorcerers who ever lived, and of course was most famed for defeating Eago. Of course my heritage never seemed to bother her, and hers never bothered me. People found it strange, how the descendants of two worst enemies could become friends."

Cessi continued to smiled.

"I had found other friends later in life, too. And as the years passed, I began to notice Bella in ways I never did before. Eventually we became boyfriend and girlfriend, and once we left Hogwarts we got married, and I was able to free myself of the name Eago at last.

"Many people thought I had done so in order to grab some of the fame of being married to a Cessi. Don't think I did it to escape persecution either though, Harry. I bore the persecution that was inflicted on me. No, I wanted to be free of the dark reputation the name carried. I hated my family, my oppressive, dark wizard parents, and my cruel brothers, who wanted to become terrible dark wizards when they grew up. I wanted to be free of a family I felt I had accidentally been dropped in, a family that I felt I had nothing in common with, a family that I had left when I was sixteen, and went to live with Bella and her father, the Cessies, the kind of family I wished to be part of, one I wished I was born in. Course," Cessi added, "That would have made Bella my sister."

Cessi chuckled. Harry stared at the professor. He never realised it before, but he and the professor were more alike than he had ever known. Both had grown up unloved, in families with oppressive guardians, along with cruel 'siblings'. Both had been alone, wishing to be a part of another family, and both had found refuge, had found acceptance, at Hogwarts. As if he could tell what Harry was thinking, Cessi smiled at him. For a long time, each one just stared at the other.

"Thank you for clearing this up, Professor," Harry getting up, "I think I now need to meet up with Ron and Hermione before the train leaves."

"Of course you do," Cessi agreed. Harry began to leave.

"See you next year, Harry!" Cessi called.

"Bye!" Harry called back. As he walked down the corridor, to meet up with Ron and Hermione, he pondered more on what it was like to be born in a dark wizard family, to bear the surname of the most terrible wizard to ever live, and to be the brother of the most terrible dark wizard to live. He thought back to the moment, after destroying the Eago in the diary, how he couldn't see the professor's expression. All he saw was him wiping his face.

* * *

**The End. This AU shall continue in "Goblet of Fire: A Different Kind of Dark Lord". It should be out in at least a month's time.**


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